As the 5pm Dining blog has mentioned, there is a fantastic selection of Christmas gifts available on the 5pm Christmas Gifts page.
From Highland getaways to beauty treatments via some rather fine dining experiences, it’s all there.
Dying for dinner
We have also been tickled by an unusual food book which has just been published. Dictators’ Dinners: A Bad Taste Guide to Entertaining Tyrants by Victoria Clark and Melissa Scott looks a hoot and seems certain to end up in many a foodie’s stocking come Christmas morning.
It examines the dietary habits of 25 of the world’s most notorious dictators. Along with recipes, it looks at how the dictators’ backgrounds influenced their diets and also asked what effect, if any, their food may have had on their policies.
Perhaps most startling is the factoid that Adolf Hitler, vegetarianism’s most unattractive poster boy, had a penchant for baby pigeons stuffed with tongue, liver and pistachio nuts.
He also employed a fifteen strong team of female tasters and would eat nothing until 45 minutes after the tasters had tried his meal.
Providing that they hadn’t dropped dead, the Fuhrer would only then tuck in.
Ambassador, you are spoiling us with these larvae
The Ugandan leader Idi Amin used to serve insects at state banquets as a way of freaking out visiting dignitaries.
He was also accused of being a cannibal. A charge he denied with the troubling statement: ‘I don’t like human flesh – it’s too salty for me.’
Muammar Gaddafi was famously flatulent; perhaps as a result of his fondness for camel’s milk. He was said to have used his affliction to forcefully put his point of view across during diplomatic exchanges.
The BBC’s John Simpson interviewed him and recalled that not only did Gadaffi throw back his head and laugh at every question, he also broke wind loudly every time Simpson spoke.
Behaviour best avoided at the Christmas dinner table, we suspect.